Cabinet accessory



June 3, 1941. c, 1 BELLA CABINET ACCESSORY Filed April 10, 1940 I NV ENTOR n N m Patented June 3, 1941 UiTED STATES PATENT GFICE 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a protective accessory device for usewith cabinets having finished surfaces, such as refrigerators or stovecabinets or the like, and it relates more particularly to a deviceadapted to be readily operatively applied to such cabinets to protectvulnerable portions of their finished surfaces from accidental injuryand undue wear.

There are numerous cabinets now on the market and in current use havinghighly finished outer surfaces which when once injured either cannot beproperly repaired or else can only be repaired at relatively prohibitivecost. Included among such articles are refrigerators, stoves, drawercabinets and other kitchen cabinets constructed from sheet metal andhaving glazed porcelain finishes, synthetic or ordinary enamel finishes,and the like. In actual use, the finished outer surfaces are extremelyvulnerable to damage, and readily become chipped and scratched andmarred, particularly when struck by hard objects, as for example byfalling dishes or utensils or the like. This is particularly true ofoutwardly projecting ledge-like cabinet surfaces which extend beyond themain plane of the cabinet face, as for example the ledge-like surfacealong the upper edge of a cabinet panel or door or drawer whose frontsurfaces offset outwardly beyond the plane of the adjacent cabinetsurface.

Thus, for example in many domestic and commerical refrigerators now onsale and in use, a generally upright cabinet is provided having itsinside horizontally divided into two com-partments, the uppercompartment comprising the refrigerating chamber, and the lowercompartment comprising either a food storage chamber or a space forhousing the mechanical apparatus forming part of the refrigerator. Thesetwo compartments are provided with outwardly movable front access doorswhich may be hingedly or otherwise associated with the cabinet, andcustomarily the face of the lower door or panel is offset outwardly fromthe adjacent front cabinet surface, thereby presenting along the upperedge of said lower door or panel an outwardly projecting ledge adaptedto be struck by falling objects. Thus, when the door to the overheadrefrigerating compartment is open for the insertion or extraction ofdishes or utensils the outwardly projecting ledge along the top edge .ofthe lower panel becomes exposed, and should any dishes or utensils bedropped, they are quite likely to strike this ledge and chip orotherwise irreparably injure the finished surface thereof.

It is the object of the present invention to prounderstood that thevarious instrumentalities of which the invention consists can bevariously arranged and organized and that the invention is not limitedto the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities asherein shown and described.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters indicatelike parts,

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet,comprising one of the many different kinds of cabinets on which thepresent invention may be employed, shown with a rubber shieldconstituting .one illustrative embodiment of the present inventionoperatively mounted over the upper edge of the lower protruding panel.

Figure 2 represents a much enlarged sectional View taken on line 22 ofFigure 1, looking in the direction of the-arrows.

Figure 3 represents an enlarged view looking at the rear of the rubbershield illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

The particular'refrigerator selected for ill-ustration in theaccompanying drawing includes a' generally rectangular cabinet 8 havingits interior horizontally divided into a main upper refrigeratingcompartment 9 and a lower compartment It which may house therefrigerating machinery or which may constitute a food storage space. Ahinged door l I cooperates with the front opening .of the upperrefrigerating compartment 9, and access to the space inside the lowercompartment Ill may be had by removing the lower panel 12 from itsassociated opening, either by swinging said panel outwardly if it behingedly connected to the cabinet, or else by bodily removing the entirepanel from the associated opening.

As will be observed from Figure 2, the outer surface of the lower panel[2 is offset outwardly from the adjacent surrounding front surface iiiof the refrigerator, with the rounded ledge-like edge portion i lextending generally intermediate the two. The exposed outer surface ofthis lower panel 52, like the rest of the cabinet 8 comes customarilycoated with a glazed porcelain or synthetic enamel finish which issubject to chipping when struck by a falling article, such as a droppedfood receptacle or the like.

In accordance with the present invention, the upper ledge M is coveredwith an elongated longitudinally resilient protector or shield I oflength substantially coextensive with the width of the panel [2. Thisprotector or shield I5 may be constructed from any suitable material,preferably from resilient elastic material, as for instance from naturalor synthetic rubber, or the like. In the preferred embodiment, theshield l5 is'molded to a shape which will most nearly correspond withthe rounded contour along and at the corners of upper edge portion I4.

The shield i5 is of channel-like cross-section and includes a relativelythin vertical rear wall 5, a generally horizontal upper wall H, and afront wall portion i8 which preferably tapers downwardly to a featheredge to merge smoothly with the underlying outer surface of the panell2; with portions it, I! and It being integral with each other. At theopposite end portions of the inverted trough-like portion of the shieldor protector 65 are provided curved pocket-like corners I9 integral withthe rest of the shield and adapted to fit snugly over the upper cornersof the panel 2.

The shield or protector may be operatively secured in position along theupper edge portion of the panel 22 in any suitable manner, as forinstance by being stretched longitudinally and then snapped or placedover said panel edge portion whereby it will be frictionally held inposition, or it may be adhesively secured to the urn derlying panelsurface. Another and preferred manner in which the shield may be securedin position has been illustrated in Figure 3 and will be seen to consistof fastening a series of tabs or projections 28, which are integral withthe rear shield wall l5 and extend downwardly therefrom, directly to theunderlying panel metal or to the panel frame member 2! by any suitablefastening means, as for instance by screws or nails or even directly bythe. corner rubber snubbers 22 which are sometimes provided at thecorners of the panel i2. If desired, any combination of the foregoingfastening means may be used. Once the rubber shield of the presentinvention has been operatively affixed to the upper edge of itsassociated panel, it will maintain its position thereon, and will notseparate itself therefrom in use.

The shield of the present invention may be constructed in a Wide varietyof colors to match or contrast with the color of the exterior cabinetsurface, and will'enhance the ornamental appearanceof'the cabinet towhich it is applied.

Once it has been affixed, it may be readily cleaned without removal, andis unobiectionable from a sanitary standpoint.

The word rubber where used in the foregoing specification and in theappended claims is intended to comprehend either natural rubber orsynthetic or artificial rubber, as for example Neoprene, Thiokol,Duprene or the like, or other rubber-like materials.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms Withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it istherefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being hadto theappended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate thescope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is hereby claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A rubber shield for protecting the ledge-like upper edge portion of aprotruding cabinet panel comprising an elongated inverted trough-likeportion open at the bottom and adapted to be applied to the upper edgeportion of said panel and including a rear wall, an upper wall and afront wall generally in juxtaposition with said rear wall, said wallsbeing integral with each other, a pair of opposed pocket-like cornerportions at the opposite ends of said trough-like portion integraltherewith and adapted snugly to receive the upper corner portions ofsaid panel,

and a series of securement tabs extending down- 7 wardly from said rearwall and adapted to be permanently fastened to the rear of said cabinetpanel by any suitable attachment means, whereby said shield may begenerally permanently secured to said panel by means normally concealedfrom View.

2. A one-piece molded flexible rubber shield for protecting the upperedge portion of a protruding cabinet panel against possible injury fromfalling objects or the like comprising an inverted channel-likelongitudinally resilient portion adapted to be placed over the upperedge portion of said panel, said portion when relaxed being slightlyshorter in length than the width of said panel, and a pair of juxtaposedpocketlike corner portions at the opposite ends of said channel-likeportion and integral therewith,

said pocket-like corner portions being adapted

